Club Insurance

[Peter Dennis]

Just by way of introduction I'm the new Midlands Representative for the AWGB having taken over from Pat Murphy. 

I believe that there is more that the AWGB can and should be doing for clubs and one issue that has exercised my own club (Herefordshire Woodturners) for a long time is that of insurance.  In talking to a lot of clubs I feel that we are not alone and that there is a lot of duplication of effort in trying to get satisfactory answers from Zurich.


To this end I am asking for everyone to submit questions regarding insurance with the objective of the AWGB getting specific responses from our insurers which can be made available to everyone.

As a start I have listed below some questions to start everyone off but I'm sure that you'll have plenty more - be as pedantic as you like!

1)Are staff at a venue (club house or elsewhere) covered for injury as a result of woodturning activities.

2)Is the situation in 1) different depending on whether the 'demonstrator' is a club member or not.

3)Are members of the public covered at fairs or markets when a club member is giving a demo.

4)In 3) above, what happens if a member of the public is "given a go" and either hurts themselves or others.  Is the competence of the demonstrator relevant?

5)Are "visitors" to clubs covered in the same way as club members?

6)Is there cover for anyone who might be "employed" by the club?

7)Does payment for a service affect insurance? eg if equipment is inspected to see if it's fit for purpose foc by a club member?

8)Does insurance cover claims for harassment/bullying etc?

9)What cover is there for an injury following an inadvertant failure to follow health and safety processes?

10)As 9) above but failure to follow any general policies and procedures that the club might have in place.

11)Are legal expenses covered

12)What is the situation if an article made by a club member and then sold by the club at a craft fair, subsequently causes injury.

13)Are "unskilled" demonstrators covered either at a craft fair or club meeting if their actions result in someone being injured.  How is competence of a club demonstrator assessed in a case like this?

14)How does being disabled eg blind affect insurances?

15)Are there limitations as to what tools/machinery can be used in a demo eg chainsaws?

16)Is injury to a club member covered if caused by a loaned out tool eg lathe when they are at home either through a fault in the tool or error whilst using it by the club member.

I'm sure that you will have many more questions.  The more the better.  Thanks in advance

[GBF]

Interesting

[John D Smith]

This is as per reply from email

Hi Peter

 One point I would like to make is the AWGB are not allowed to advise on Insurance matters I must say I have always found Zurich Insurance most helpful when I have asked for help on specific Questions however it might be interesting to see what other Clubs say I have only asked when we were not clear on something.
 The problem I find with Insurance and it is the same with all insurances there is such a vast number of pages to read and understand the legal jargon and sometimes that is open to an individuals interpretation so it will be interesting to see how this thread goes
                          Regards John

[Peter Dennis]

Just by way of clarification I appreciate that the AWGB should not be giving advice on insurance matters and there is no intent to do so.  The proposal is that the AWGB put these questions to Zurich and get written answers from them which can then be put on the website.  Hopefully as new questions arise, the list can be added to.

Zurich are generally helpful but perhaps this will save some clubs reinventing the wheel.

[David Buskell]

Peter,

Tha's a good list. You may know that the insurance policies have been a constant source of discussion by the clubs over the years so perhaps you should also post this direct to all clubs to get a reaction. Perhaps ask Paul to add it to his regular e-news??

For example, our Treasurer who deals with all insurance matters for our club is not on this Forum and he may have questions for Zurich.

I know in the past,one of the club's had an insurance expert amongst their membership  and some interesting discussions ensued! I'll look back through my files and see if I can find anything.

A couple of the points in the list are more approriately covered by standing operational policies within clubs, possibly by way of example the disabilities point. A member is a member and we have an equal duty of care to them.

Hope this helps.